Legal & General Property completed £1.7bn of direct property transactions in 2011, it said today.
Over the year, LGP acquired around £970m, representing 19 assets, and disposed of circa £710m, representing 18 assets. LGP continues to be one of the most active investors in the UK commercial property market.
The deals ranged in size from circa £3m to more than £300m, the largest being the acquisition of the Rolls Building on Fetter Lane, EC4, from Delancey for £305m. They also included the company’s debut investment into the student accommodation sector, with the purchase of a 45-year income strip in Imperial College’s 566-bed Battersea development, Griffon Studios, SW11, which it bought for around £116m, as well as the Academy for English Football in Burton upon Trent, which is due to be completed in June in time for the Olympics.
Over the course of 2011, LGP raised a total of £1.4bn of new equity, which included capital secured from a number of new sources, including major international institutional investors based in the Middle East, Asia and Scandinavia.
LGP has grown its transactional and development capabilities significantly over the past few years through a number of strategic hires, including Adam Kerr, who joined in November as head of transactions, in order to enhance its access to off-market deals and extend its project pipeline. Headed by Gordon Aitchison, who was recently promoted to director of investment and development, the two operations have now been brought closer together under one house in order to identify a range of opportunities.
Aitchison said: “With considerable fire power at our disposal, we feel that we are well placed to continue to capitalise on opportunities in the UK market as they unfold in 2012. With strong expectations of forced deleveraging, failed refinances and banks required to raise capital, we believe that this year will not only present some attractive investments, but that there will also continue to be more interesting opportunities where we can use the depth and breadth of our platform to unlock potential.”
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
